The purpose of this project is to investigate two interrelated problems involving the effects of family size, birth order and spacing, and parental education and income level upon the intellectual growth of young children. We intend to examine the impact these factors have on differences in parental childbearing beliefs and practices and, furthermore, to investigate the influence of parental beliefs and practices embedded within family variables upon the cognitive development of children. The rationale underlying this research is the need to specify in detail the interplay of the above factors as they affect intellectual capabilities of young children. Moreover, we need to know more about how parental childbearing beliefs and practices interact with increasing parental experience associated with family size and spacing of children. The parent-child relationship is viewed in this context as interactional in which parent and child are both teacher and learner. Research methods include parent interviews, parent-child observations, and task assessments of the intellectual and social problem-solving capabilities of young children. Data collected should enable us to provide specific information regarding the relationships among: (1) family structure variables, (2) parental childbearing beliefs, (3) parental childbearing practices, and (4) the intellectual competencies of young children. This information will be applicable to parent education programming as well as to cognitive developmental theory.